The association of lack of hand hygiene and hospital acquired infections has become a significant focus for regulators in recent years. The United States Centers for Disease Control estimates that one in 10 to 20 admitted individuals to a hospital will acquire an infection or disease from their stay and exposure within a hospital environment. A hospitalized individual is generally more predisposed to infection or disease due to several factors including a weak or depressed immune system, wound exposure, surgery, and the proximity of other individuals that may possess infectious contagions. Although the source of a hospital acquired infection or disease is extremely difficult to track to the original source, the pathogens are most commonly carried in an aerosolized manner or through direct contact with a surface or skin (most commonly a nurse's or doctor's hands). The World Health Organization has determined that hand washing is of primary importance. Hand washing is probably the single most effective mariner to help deter the spread of Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAI).
Current systems used to ensure that individuals wash their hands prior to contact with a patient have several key obstacles to enabling widespread application in the field. Specifically, 1) expense associated with monitoring if water is flowing from a sink; 2) inability to verify that hands are located under the sink and the flowing water; 3) expense associated with determining the identity of the person involved in the non-compliant hand washing event; and 4) expense attributable to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transmitting systems.
Prior art systems for detecting water flowing from a sink have known drawbacks. Ultrasonic sensors range in price from $500-$3000 and function efficiently only with dirty, salty or contaminated water. Ultrasonic sensors capable of efficiently detecting clean water flow exceed $3,000 per unit (such as the FD-400 series sold by Omega (www.omega.comGreen/pdf/FD-400.pdf)). Pressure sensors may also be used to detect water flow from a sink. While these devices are relatively inexpensive, they often provide false values as the drop may be attributable to a sudden pressure drop somewhere else in the building (such as due to a toilet flushing) rather than at the to be monitored sink. Additionally, conductivity sensors located at the water faucet may be used to detect water flow at a sink or hand washing station. However, these units are prone to corrosion, as well as salt and metal deposition which render these sensors unreliable and ineffective for prolonged use.
A survey of systems currently on the market to monitor hand washing compliance indicates that prior art systems fail to provide for one or more of: monitoring soap/sanitizer use, monitoring water use, monitoring exact employee location, visually verifying employee presence, monitoring duration of hand washing, verifying proper hand washing technique, alerting employees, sending information to a web-site, providing additional information at a hand washing station, using a small/unobtrusive badge, work with an existing employee badge, detect alcohol on hands, and indicating compliance with washing at the washing station. In particular, none of the prior art systems monitor whether water is actually flowing due to the expense of existing flow sensor systems.
The use of RFID systems for monitoring individuals as they enter or exit an area is common. For example, International Publication Nos. WO 2007/090470 and WO 2010/026581 A2 illustrate the use of RFID tags in a hospital environment for tracking Use of RFID tags attached to articles to track the articles is known in the art. In addition, an active RFID system that transmits a signal to a receiver station where the unit is equipped with a battery is known in the art.
The use of a position or signal transmitter generally requires the application of an external power supply. These power supplies are generally bulky and add significant weight and cost to a unit that may be portable and require activation or signal transmission upon a primary signal activation. For example, prior art systems describe a badge worn by a doctor that activates a transmitter when the badge comes into proximity with an infrared transmitter. Thus, despite the need, the use of transmitting devices that can easily connect to an RFID network and transmit a signal from a water sensor also becomes prohibitively expensive with current technology.
It is an object of the current invention to provide the ability for the sensor to inexpensively transmit the water flow status to an RFID network.
It is a further object of the current invention to provide a low cost hand wash compliance system capable of detecting whether an individual has washed their hands and that tracks the location of an individual within a room and their proximity to entrance and exit signs, hand washing stations, restricted areas, other individuals, and other physical locations.
It is another object of the current invention to provide a means of associating an individual to the hand washing event and their compliance with effective washing.
It is further an object of the current invention to transmit the information associated with the individual, their location within a restricted area, their hand washing compliance, and the flow of water to an information reporting system.